Ever since his unveiling in February, Sento-kun, the official mascot character for the Commemorative Events of the 1,300th Anniversary of the Nara-Heijokyo Capital, has garnered widespread criticism from the media, religious groups and the blogosphere. A Buddhist child monk with a rack of deer antlers sprouting from his head, Sento-kun is supposed to evoke the image of Nara's rich Buddhist history and the wild (but tame) deer that roam freely around town. But some citizens have expressed anger at officials for shutting them out of the decision-making process and wasting 5 million yen (about $50,000) of taxpayer money on an ugly mascot, and some Buddhist groups are reportedly upset with the inappropriate use of a religious image.

In response to the fiasco, a group of Nara-area designers called the "Creators Forum Yamato" have voluntarily organized an independent design contest to come up with a mascot that more closely represents the will of the people and the true spirit of Nara. After receiving 619 submissions from the general public (some from as far away as New York and Paris), organizers have narrowed the pool to 30 candidates and are encouraging the public to vote online.

Here are the candidates on the ballot...

To vote, go to the online ballot, select the button under your favorite character, and hit the confirmation button at the bottom of the screen. Then hit the confirmation button on the next screen. The polls are open until May 25. As of this writing, nearly 15,000 ballots have been cast.

As a representative of the citizens of Nara prefecture, the winning mascot will work side-by-side with Sento-kun to make the anniversary event a success.

The Commemorative Events of the 1,300th Anniversary of Nara Heijokyo Capital will be held in Nara prefecture in 2010 to commemorate the 1,300th anniversary of the founding of Heijokyo (now known as Nara), the capital of Japan from 710 to 784 A.D. The large-scale, year-long international project is expected to attract 15 million visitors.

stephany pena

I also prefer to the original. It would be better without the antlers, but it's better than any of these. These are just a bunch of cute animals, with no obvious echoes of Japan as it was twelve or thirteen centuries ago. The only ones I would consider are 27, which I'm assuming is meant to remind us of Buddhist deities or wrathful spirits, and 28, which to my eye looks like a cute penguin dressed up as an ancient Japanese official.

I can only imagine what Sei Shonagon would have done if she had seen them. Put it on a list of ten bad plebiean customs, perhaps. She probably wouldn't like the official mascot, either, but at least it would have for her the virtue of being the official mascot.

SCuD

1. Sento-kun is exactly what's wrong with government funding in Japan, and, it is also disrespectful.

2. Kish, no offense but your one of the reasons why the internet can not be relied on as a scholarly source. WTF does "echoes of Japan" mean anyway? 12 centuries ago "Japan" didn't even exist. That word "nihon" is a relatively knew word created by the Meji government to represent a unified country. Before that we have feudal states. Do you even know what Japanese iconography would have looked like 12 centuries ago...because if you do I'm sure all the world archeologist's trying to recreate Heijokyo and pieces of art from that period that have been lost, would love your input!

3. Great deductive work Watson! Are you a detective? You should be! No.27 is obviously the Buddhist manifestation of Shiva, and is one of the guardian (not deity) demon pair that can be seen in the main gate at Todaiji, Nara's biggest temple. Have you even been to Japan?